Emergency grazing of CRP acres approved

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) has authorized 60 Texas counties for emergency grazing use of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres.

Each local FSA office must request approval from the Texas FSA State Committee. There is no automatic approval due to drought conditions, as in previous years.

A 90-day emergency grazing period for 59 of the 60 approved counties will end Sept. 11, 2014. Ochiltree County is the 60th named county to receive emergency grazing on CRP acres, but the grazing period will end on Sept. 18, 2014. For a complete county listing, please click here.

Farmers and ranchers must request approval before grazing eligible acreage and must obtain a modified conservation plan from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) that includes grazing provisions.

There will be no CRP annual rental payment reduction for 2014 emergency grazing authorizations.